Down go the No. 1 seeds in 6A basketball

February 22, 2018 by Jose Garcia, AZPreps365


(Xavier coach Jennifer Gillom celebrates with a couple of her players after Wednesday's semifinal victory. Photo by Jose Garcia/azpreps365.com)

Xavier didn’t play into the potential Valley Vista-Millennium championship rematch narrative.

The Phoenix school came to win and write its own championship story. Book it.

Xavier Prep is heading to its first girls basketball championship game since 1986 after upsetting one of the favorites, No. 1 seed Millennium, 50-48.

“People doubted us the whole season, and we just proved them wrong,” said senior forward Montana Oltrogge after her team’s semifinal win Wednesday at Wells Fargo Arena. “We’ve grown these past few games. Everyone knows their roles.”

Oltrogge and her teammates will now focus on defeating another favorite, defending champ Valley Vista, in Wednesday’s 6A Conference 2017-18 season finale.

Millennium and Valley Vista are known for their defenses, but Xavier’s full court pressure also made a huge impression with 16 steals. Millennium outrebounded Xavier 36-27 and shot 50 percent, but the difference Wednesday night was Xavier’s 30 points off turnovers.

“That pressure defense of ours is something else,” said Xavier coach Jennifer Gillom, a former WNBA star. “I think I have some of the best girls athletically that can get it done.”

The play of Oltrogge (22 points, 9 rebounds) also grabbed a lot of attention.

Her points in the paint propelled Xavier (26-5) to an 38-32 advantage near the end of the third quarter. But that’s when Tyonna Singleton sparked a 16-5 Millennium (23-7) run that put her team up 48-43.

Guards Leilani McIntosh (16 points) and Paris Moore’s defense (6 steals) then took over. McIntosh made two free throws with 2:52 left and followed that with a three off the glass.

Oltrogge added the final points in the game with about 35 seconds remaining when she pumped fake, spun around her defender and converted a reverse layup. Xavier Prep actually trailed 12-2 early, but after shaking off the early jitters it turned the pressure up to start the comeback in the second quarter, when Oltrogge began to show off her shooting touch and post moves.

“My shot has been a little off,” Oltrogge said. “They (Millennium) played great defense on us, but I just stuck with the moves that I’ve been practicing all season and finally paid off in this game.”

Mountain Pointe advances to 1st title game

The Mountain Pointe boys followed the Xavier girls with a win of its own over a No. 1 seed, Brophy.

The 62-58 victory sent No. 5 Mountain Pointe to its first ever title game, where it will play No. 2 Pinnacle on Wednesday. It was somewhat of an upset since Brophy (26-2) hadn’t lost to an Arizona team this year but only defeated Mountain Pointe by one point near the start of the season.

Brophy never led in Wednesday’s semifinal against a team with more depth, as eight Mountain Pointe players scored at least five or more points. One of those players, Amarion Cash, only scored seven points but tallied 10 boards and hit the biggest shot of the game with about 57 seconds remaining.

A three pointer by Cash put Mountain Pointe ahead 61-56. Post player Jalen Graham also had 10 rebounds as well as nine points and three blocks for 26-3 Mountain Pointe.

Khalid Price finished with a team high 13 points for Mountain Pointe. Brophy had four players score in double figures but only covered 13 of its 25 free throws.

“They (Brophy) are a great team,” Mountain Pointe’s first-year coach Duane Eason said. “Their coach (Matt Hooten) does an excellent job with them. But I think we have more talent than they did. Their two best players (Jaxson Baker, Ian Burke) are probably better than our best players, but our depth is what helps us. Jaxson is going to have a big night on most nights but with our full court pressure and making him work, he can’t get stuff that he would normally do. He did some good work down low, but once we got a lead I knew we had to just keep it.”

(Mountain Pointe is headed to the 6A Conference final. Photo by Jose Garcia/azpreps365.com)